باختر

باختر

Persian

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [script needed] (ʾpʾhtl /abāxtar/, “north”), derived from Avestan 𐬀𐬞𐬁𐬑𐬙𐬀𐬭𐬀‎ (apāxtara, “north; direction of the daevas, direction of Ahriman, direction of Hell”), from Old Iranian *apāxtara (“retrograde, backward-turning”), comparative stem based on *apāk-/*apāŋ (“backward”), from the preposition *apa (“behind”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *apatamás, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo-tm̥mo-, from *h₂epó (“from, away, off”).[1]

See also Albanian afër (“close, nearby”),[2] Gothic 𐌰𐍆𐌰𐍂 (afar, “after”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎱𐎼 (apara, “later, after”), Avestan 𐬀𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬀‎ (apara, “more behind, later”).

Noun

باختر • (bâxtar)

1. west
2. (obsolete) north

Descendants

• → Urdu: باختر‎ (bāxtar)

References

1. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism, p. 249
2. Orel, Vladimir (1998), “باختر”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Cologne: Brill, →ISBN, page 1

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Urdu

Etymology

From Classical Persian باختر‎ (bāxtar).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /bɑːx.t̪əɾ/

Noun

باختَر • (bāxtar) ? (Hindi spelling बाख़तर)

1. west
2. Khorasan; Central Asia
3. (dialectal) east